135. I Have No Friends (3)
135. I Have No Friends (3)
"I know this place! It's the restaurant I told you about last time!"
"Yeah. I heard this place is really popular."
[Oh my, it looks like an expensive restaurant.]
Viola had led us to a bright, cheerful restaurant.
The expensive-looking interior made me feel awkward. It seemed like the sort of place with strict dining etiquette, and I knew very little about that.
Reni had taught me a little, but at Dawn Hall I could eat comfortably without worrying much about manners. I had never expected to visit such an upscale restaurant.
"Let's go up to the second floor! I want to see outside!"
"Yeah, yeah."
Viola seemed familiar with the place and led us skillfully to the second floor. Because we had arrived between mealtimes, it was quiet enough for us to take a balcony table.
Viola sat across from me, while Millia and Elisa occupied the seats on either side—an unbalanced arrangement. I almost objected, then gave up. Elisa might have listened, but Millia wouldn't relinquish her place unless I threatened her.
With the two girls beside me, I asked Viola across the table,
"Viola, what's the signature dish here?"
"The steak course is famous, I think. The chef here cooks steak incredibly well. You should choose medium or rare."
I didn't honestly understand the difference between medium and rare, so perhaps I'd choose the more thoroughly cooked medium. I skimmed the incomprehensible menu and handed it to Millia, whose eyes sparkled beside me.
Millia accepted the menu and began choosing with the grave expression of someone making the decision of a lifetime.
"Millia, have you chosen?"
"Hmm~ Just a second. I'm in the middle of a huge~ dilemma."
Was there really so much to consider? The menu offered only a steak course and a seafood course. I didn't know how different the courses were, but could the choice truly require that much thought?
"How about eating the seafood course?"
"Huh? Seafood?"
"Yeah."
"Then I'll go with seafood!"
"I-I'll have seafood too..."
"I'll have the steak. I think I'll try it rare today."
Two steak courses and two seafood courses. I raised a hand to summon the waiter. When he noticed me, he looked around nervously, sighed, and approached.
"A-are you ready to order...?"
Why was he frightened? I hadn't done anything.
"One rare and one medium steak course. Two seafood courses."
"I have your order. We will bring the appetizers shortly, so p-please enjoy your meal."
I watched the waiter hurry away and pressed a hand to my forehead. Everyone nearby was staring. Should I have been grateful that the restaurant was not crowded?
[Contractor, is your face a deadly weapon?]
Shut it.
"You have it rough, old man."
"I still like you, Yohan!"
"A-Are you o-okay?"
Having three people speak to me from all directions was dizzying. I gave vague answers and looked down at the sunlit street, where people hurried along.
It was an ordinary scene, but watching the colorful crowd pass was more interesting than I'd expected.
Elves, dwarves, beastkin, humans, and many other races mingled in the streets—a sight unique to this city. Such scenes were rare elsewhere. There was little reason for the races to mix, and most nonhumans didn't choose to live in human settlements.
That was due more to the characteristics of each race than discrimination.
Dwarves and elves naturally required different living environments.
"I'm all right, so don't worry too much. I'm so used to it by now that I've reached the point where it doesn't bother me at all."
"Isn't rambling on usually a sign that someone's hurt?"
"This is where you just let it slide and move on."
"Old man, you've got an unexpected side to you. You even make that grumpy face."
What was with that look, as though she'd discovered an unexpected side of me? I was an ordinary person. I cried, became angry, and laughed too.
"Yohan is fun!"
"Ah, b-but I still th-think you're a wonderful person...!"
Was this the academy version of the Bermuda Triangle? I had not realized how difficult it would be to hold a conversation while surrounded by three girls. Sweating inwardly, I kept pace with the chaotic discussion by offering suitable responses.
Most of the conversation concerned Kalon Academy or me. Because I was the one acquaintance all three shared, my name naturally came up often.
Being discussed by girls didn't feel bad in itself, but having all three stare intently at me while speaking remained painfully awkward.
Each one alone was fine, but with three of them I didn't know where to direct my attention.
"...When we went to that dungeon, the old man raised his shovel at the maze entrance and started digging through the wall. I was completely dumbfounded. How do you even come up with the idea of breaking through maze walls and going straight ahead?"
"Walls exist to be broken."
"No, it's the opposite."
"Yohan is always breaking, digging, and making things! I bet there's nobody on the continent better with a shovel than Yohan?"
"I-I think so too...!"
I had no idea why their conclusion kept becoming "Yohan is amazing!"
It wasn't as though this were an isekai.
...No, it was.
While enduring what must have been the latest of countless showers of praise, I spooned up some appetizer soup.
It had a wholesome flavor unlike my improvised cooking—which meant it wasn't strongly seasoned. I rarely ate course meals, so I couldn't tell whether appetizers were normally like this or whether this restaurant simply preferred mild food.
"It's kind of bland!"
"Aren't appetizers usually like this? I haven't eaten them anywhere else either, so I'm not sure, but—"
"The food Yohan makes me is really rich, though?"
"Don't compare it to the stuff I make."
My cooking was improvised, so I threw in generous amounts of seasoning. If she wanted a comparison, Dawn Hall's food would have been more appropriate. Though this was still bland even compared with that.
"Still, the main dish is delicious, so you can get your hopes up."
As Viola promised, the steak was worthy of its price. Its clean juices, texture, and flavor were all impressive. Even so, I preferred the steak at Dawn Hall. That was only natural when they cooked it specifically to my taste.
"It's delicious!"
"Don't eat so fast. You'll get indigestion."
I used a napkin to remove a piece of shrimp shell from the corner of Millia's mouth. Delighted for some reason, she grinned and pushed her face toward me.
"Is there any on the other side?"
"There's none, so finish your food."
"Ah, um, uh... me too..."
Now it was your turn, huh. I sighed at Elisa as she tugged my sleeve. Nothing seemed to be on her face, but she'd gathered the courage to lean closer, so I at least pretended. I brushed her bare cheek as though wiping something away.
"The old man's popular, I see..."
Why did you look dissatisfied too? You were sitting across from me; my arm couldn't reach you.
I deliberately avoided Viola's complicated gaze and put a piece of steak in my mouth. Savory juices tickled my tongue. This was how meat should taste. Whatever else could be said, the chef knew how to cook steak—though that was expected when it was the main dish.
"Yohan, say ahh~"
"...Thank you."
I accepted the piece of lobster Millia offered. Had it been cooked with butter? The butter's distinctive richness combined with the lobster's texture and filled my mouth. I could not call it extraordinary, but it was pleasant enough.
"It's good, right?"
"It is."
"H-Hawawa... s-so bold...!"
Beside me, Elisa swallowed and murmured too softly to hear. This situation was difficult to handle. I placed my final piece of steak in Millia's mouth and stood.
"I'm going to hit the restroom for a moment."
[Contractor, are you running away?]
Shut it.
Rue's disappointed voice echoed in my head and irritated me, so I rapped the Grimoire hanging at my waist.
"Okay? See you in a bit~"
"P-Please come back safely!"
"The restroom's on the first floor here, so hurry back."
It wasn't urgent, but I decided to go anyway.
Using the restroom as an excuse to catch my breath seemed better than remaining awkwardly wedged between the three of them. I patted Millia's head as she watched me with sparkling eyes, then left.
-------------------
"Viola! Is rare steak good?"
Viola gave a wry smile at Millia's curious stare. How could anyone think they were the same age? Their figures made it plausible, but looking at Millia's face erased the impression.
She looked more like a younger sister several years below Viola.
'Even though she was exactly the type men liked.'
"You've never tried it?"
"No. At Dawn Hall, they always grill it medium—"
At Millia's words, Viola chuckled, cut off a corner of her steak, and set it on Millia's plate.
The five-gold-coin steak, lightly charred outside and red within, slid down a piece of lobster like a playground slide and landed on Millia's plate. She watched it leisurely, speared it with her fork, and put it in her mouth.
"It'sh delicoush!"
"Yeah?"
Millia shook her head, then grabbed it in surprise when her vision tilted. She rarely carried her head separately these days and sometimes forgot that it remained attached by a single thin band that looked wholly insufficient.
Any vigorous movement could have made it fall. Millia smiled awkwardly and swallowed the steak she had chewed into mince.
"Heehee. I should go with the steak next time."
"Uh, aren't you the arm cripple? How did you get here?"
'Ugh. Why was that goblin bastard here?'
What rotten timing.
Viola frowned as footsteps approached from behind, looking as though she had encountered someone she hated. Millia tilted her head at Viola's expression and watched the group of men approaching their table.
"Bucky?"
"What did you say?!"
The man with prominent buckteeth strode toward the table, his face twisting in anger at Millia's careless remark.
"A personal attack out of nowhere. I see she's a fitting friend for a bitch like you."
"Well, I came into some money, you know."
Viola shrugged and snorted. Although both were students in the Alchemy Department, they were nearly enemies. Jealous of her excellent grades, he had spent the semester speaking behind her back.
After she lost her arm, he began insulting her openly. Viola glared at him in irritation.
'A witch? Birds of a feather flocked together, I supposed.'
The mean-looking Buckteeth surveyed Viola's group with a vicious smile. As a noble who valued connections, he knew the faces and names of most first-year students, but he didn't recognize the beautiful red-haired girl in uniform.
'She was eating with Viola, a commoner, so she must have been a commoner too.'
"Oh, exalted noble, if you came to eat, why not do so quietly and leave?"
"Ha! Just because we attend the same academy, you think we stand on equal footing? Losing your arm must have made you blind to your place."
"Bretton, she has an arm."
"What?"
"He's right. She really does have one."
A nearly invisible male student behind Bretton pointed at Viola's arm. Bretton followed his gesture in shock. An arm that had been missing at the end of the first semester was now present. Bewildered by what he could not understand, he asked,
"What? How did your arm grow back?"
"Why would I owe you an explanation? If you came to eat, then eat this and fuck off."
Viola's prosthetic understood her command and raised its middle finger. At the gesture telling him to fuck off, Bretton's face turned beet-red.
"Why, you little..."
"Bretton. B-behind you..."
"What? Speak properly!"
"There's s-someone behind you..."
Only after both lackeys spoke did Bretton turn. A shadow suddenly covered his face, and he instinctively looked up.
"...Bedwetter?"
"Wha, what?"
A massive man who looked ready to fold him in half met Bretton's eyes.